Vitamin D Attenuates Endothelial Dysfunction in Uremic Rats and Maintains Human Endothelial Stability

Background-—Dysfunctional endothelium may contribute to the development of cardiovascular complications in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Supplementation with active vitamin D has been proposed to have vasoprotective potential in CKD, not only by direct effects on the endothelium but also by an increment of a-Klotho. Here, we explored the capacity of the active vitamin D analogue paricalcitol to protect against uremia-induced endothelial damage and the extent to which this was dependent on increased a-Klotho concentrations.